Published U.S. Patent application US2003/0079458 published 1 May 2003 discloses a gathering and picking device. The gathering element is rotatable about an approximately vertical axis and is provided with radially extending fingers arranged to insert plant stalks into a picking gap and to transport the plants stalks over the length of the picking gap. Two picking rolls are arranged underneath the picking gap. The picking gap is defined by a stripper plate. The picking gap is made straight over nearly its entire length, and is curved in the direction of the rotational axis of the gathering element only at its end, while the picking gap widens in the shape of a funnel upstream of its inlet region. During the harvest, the gathering element grasps the plants with its fingers, with the plants being initially transported into the picking gap laterally, and then rearwardly. At the inlet region and the end region of the picking gap, the leading surface of a finger forms an angle of approximately 45 degrees with the picking gap, while the leading surface is oriented approximately perpendicular relative to the picking gap in its central region. This causes a relative movement, and acute angles, between the plants and the surface of the transport element in the inlet region and the end region of the picking gap. These relative movements and acute angles can lead to friction-related wear and transport problems.